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Soter Announces Additional COVID Relief Funding for Businesses

Feb 25, 2021 06:00AM ● By Pamela Johnson

Baker-Polito Administration Awards Another $160,000 in Grants to Bellingham and Uxbridge Businesses

8th Worcester District — In late January, State Representative Mike Soter announced that the Baker-Polito Administration released $45 million in awards to 1,100 additional small businesses in a fifth round of grants through the COVID-19 Small Business Grant Program administered by the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation. Restaurants, bars and retail stores, which have been especially impacted during the pandemic, are among the key industries to lead this round. Representative Soter is proud to announce that $160,000 will be distributed to two businesses in Bellingham and one business in Uxbridge.
 
To date, the Baker-Polito Administration has awarded more than $277 million in direct financial support to more than 5,800 small businesses. This funding has been made available through a $668 million business relief fund set up in December, as well as $50.8 million for small and diverse businesses included in the economic recovery package announced in October.
 
Representative Soter commented on the release, “I’m delighted to see that businesses are receiving much need relief. In the coming weeks, additional sector specific grants will be released. The sector-specific program targets businesses in the industries experiencing the greatest economic hardship, regardless of employee headcount. While this infusion of cash is great in the short term, we need to continue to evaluate what long term solutions can be implemented.”
 
Additional grants will be announced in the coming weeks for thousands of other businesses. Separate from this round of small business grants, MGCC continues to review applications submitted for its Sector-Specific Small Business Relief Grant Program.

Over $300,000 in MGCC Grants Awarded to Businesses in 8th Worcester District

More recently, Representative Mike Soter announced that the Baker-Polito Administration released approximately $64M in grants to 1,312 additional small businesses in the seventh round of COVID relief grants administered by the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation (MGCC). This program is focused on serving businesses that have been most impacted by the pandemic, including restaurants, bars, caterers, personal services and independent retailers. Representative Soter is proud to announce that $315,000 will be distributed to 5 businesses in the 8th Worcester District.
    
The breakdown by town follows: Bellingham – 2 Businesses – $145,000; Blackstone – 1 Business –$25,000; Uxbridge – 2 Businesses – $145,000.  (Businesses did not each receive the same amount.)
    
Representative Soter commented on the release, “It is great to see funding continuously roll into the 8th Worcester district. In total, almost $2,400,000 has been infused into the four towns that I represent. Unfortunately, this is only temporary. As I have said before, we need to evaluate long-term solutions because this funding will last only so long. I’ve taken actions to file emergency legislation to provide immediate and direct relief for our local small businesses.”
     
At Bulletin deadline, the Baker-Polito Administration had awarded approximately $514 million in direct financial support to 11,212 businesses across the Commonwealth. This funding has been made available through a $668 million business relief fund set up in December, as well as a $50.8 million fund for small and diverse businesses included in the economic recovery package announced in October.
    
Among the sectors that received the highest total number of grants this round are the following: restaurants, bars, caterers or food trucks (426), personal services businesses (173), and independent retailers (114). In addition, grants for this round were awarded to 596 minority-owned and 489 women-owned businesses; 356 recipients are located in Gateway Cities, and 352 businesses have not received any prior aid.
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